Haunting, brilliant...

Rating: 10/10 (6 December 2004)

I had other thoughts beyond my One Line Summary...
However, I noted it was interesting that out of 3084 votes cast for this film, males under the age of 18 had an average vote of 9.0 (out of a possible 10 - Excellent) and the most number of votes cast by any age group was by males between 18-29 (1164) who rated the film at 7.8, .3 higher than the overall average of 7.5 out of a possible 10 - again, Excellent... Amazingly, over 58% of the total votes cast was by males...did more guys watch this movie?, or do girls "don't comment" on the I-Net? By contrast, all women cast only 432 votes (14%) at a rating of 7.7, only slightly under 18-29 age males. Out of those, females under 18 only rated the film at 6.5, and females over the age of 45 rated it at 7.9, slightly higher than guys in the 18-29 age group -- maybe these last two groups need to get together more often...???
You can draw your own conclusions from: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120731/ratings
Personally: At my age, education, music-appreciation level, #-of-films-watched-lifetime, etc...I vote a 9.5 (I'm male; just now 60; play piano and Brazilian guitar; have watched in excess of 27,400 films since the age of 8 - I feel qualified to make a comment).
This particular product of Giuseppe Tornatore's brilliance is only under-shadowed by minor performance, dialogue and certain cinematographic errors -- already well-documented.
.If you have a problem with the music performed in the film, I suggest you open up your music purview in the direction of jazz and the classical venues
.If you have a problem with the "plot" in the film, I recommend you start with a college English Lit class
.If you have a problem with the acting...well, you're probably hopelessly insensitive and in desperate need of a large bowel-movement to clear your thoughts and your direction in life
Yes, Tim Roth was majestically cast for the lead role; PTV only less majestically, and Clarence Williams III was an absolute, surprising delight.
If your heart/spirit doesn't soar at some time during the watching of this film, I feel very sad for you. And you desperately need prayer.
Bob Shank Jr, Fast Recreational Bicycle Rider, Technical Writer, Systems Analysis Team, Engineering Computing, Information Technology Directorate, Raytheon Missile Systems Company, Tucson, Arizona ...i'm in the book